Johnson, Posluszny replace Bowman, Willis in Hawaii

They had eight leis ready for members of the 49ers in Hawaii this week. So far, five won’t be used.

Joining running back Frank Gore, guard Mike Iupati, and defensive lineman Justin Smith as Niners who won’t be playing in the Pro Bowl are linebackers NaVorro Bowman and Patrick Willis.

Iupati and Bowman have injuries that clearly prevent them from playing. The other three possibly could play, but why would they want to travel to Hawaii only a day or two after suffering a hard-fought, deflating, season-ending loss in Seattle?

Via Tim Graham of the Buffalo News, they’ll be replaced by Derrick Johnson of the Chiefs and Paul Posluszny of the Jaguars.

As Graham points out, the designation of Johnson and Posluszny means that Bills rookie linebacker Kiko Alonso’s snub extends beyond the first two alternate positions.

Alonzo is a much better player than Posluszny will ever be and I was a big Posluszny supporter when he was with the Bills. This is just another example of the NFL’s disdain for the Bills and other small market teams.

Let’s also not forget LB Lavonte David, an AP first team All-Pro who is still being snubbed after having a season unlike any other LB. Top five in tackles, ties for NFL lead with tackles for loss, half a dozen sacks and INTs. Yeah, his team wasn’t that good and had a clown coach who was sacked at the end of the year, but McCoy and Revis got in, where the heck is Lavonte?

Oh, and as long as we’re throwing stats, Lavonte David has 144 total tackles (20 of those being tackles for a loss), 6 sacks, 5 INTs, 2 forced fumbles, and a safety. If David played in some high-profile market like New York or Dallas, he’d be a household name, but hes excelled in the forgotten dumpster fire of suck that have been Tampa’s 2012 and 2013 seasons, so most people just forget the guy exists.

exboomer says:
Jan 21, 2014 7:51 AM
Alonzo is a much better player than Posluszny will ever be and I am pozluszny supporter when he was with the Bills. This is just another example of the NFL’s disdain for the Bills and other small market team
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You couldn’t be more right here. Pretty much because Poz is the ONLY LB IN JACKSONVILLE DOING ANYTHING EVER, there’s this misconception that he good. Any Bill’s fan will tell you, he practiced worse than Tim Tebow, and he never make a play between the sticks.

But NOOOOOOOO, poz is right next to JASON PETERS in terms “players who are horrible who still get to go to the pro bowl.

And JAX, one more thing. If you’re that proud of Poz, it speaks volumes about your club and it’s fan base’s knowledge of football. Why not save everyone some time and move to LA already?

Who cares? The fact that the best OLB in the game, statistically or realistically-however you want to view it, wasn’t invited despite making All Pro is ridiculous. Lavonte David didn’t just have the best season of ANY LB in football this past season, he had an all-time great season. Statistically and impactfully, he had an incredible season. The Pro Bowl is a disgrace. I wasn’t watching that joke of a “game” anyways… now I’m going to make sure when the game is on that my TV is tuned to Home and Garden Channel or something just to spite the stupid people that decided to leave out David.

What the biggest joke is is that many of the 3-4 OLBs, otherwise known as 4-3 DEs that are masquerading as OLBs, barely beat David in any statistic. Several of the OLBs making the Pro Bowl did so on their pass rushing… but Ahmad Brooks, Tamba Hali, and Terrell Suggs had only a few more sacks than David’s 6, but David had twice as many tackles, led all LBs in INTs with 5, forced a ton of fumbles, had 20 TFL, and scored a safety.

The thing you people fail to realize is David and Poz have been in the league a few years…Kiko Alonso was leading a NEW defense as a ROOKIE…he had to line up everyone in a brand new scheme and get them where they belonged…then he had to make the defensive call…as a rookie!

David made the same calls as a rookie as well. Look, Kiko is great, but he isn’t on the level of Lavonte David, not yet at least. Just look at their performances when the Bucs beat the Bills. Kiko overshot the gap allowing Bobby Rainey to score a long TD run while Davis was picking off passes and stopping everyone who ran in his direction.